Aug. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Cosan SA Industria & Comercio, which
controls the world’s largest sugar-cane processor with Royal
Dutch Shell Plc, posted its first quarterly loss in three years
after a delay in sugar-cane harvesting and depreciation of
Brazil’s real eroded margins.

Net loss was 17.1 million reais ($8.46 million) in the
fiscal quarter ended June 30, the Sao Paulo-based company said
in a regulatory filing today. That compares with a profit of 2.3
billion reais a year ago. Cosan was expected to post a loss of
13.7 million reais excluding some items, the average of three
analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Delays in the sugar-cane harvest in Brazil, the world’s
largest producer and exporter, “have negatively impacted the
fiscal quarter results,” Christian Audi, an analyst with Banco
Santander SA said in an Aug. 3 note to clients. Harvest in
Brazil’s Center South, the world’s largest producing region, was
held back by rain from March through early July.

Sugar prices dropped 12 percent in the quarter as global
output is expected to exceed demand for a third straight year,
Morgan Stanley said in an e-mailed report Aug. 3. The surplus is
estimated at 5.5 million metric tons in the 2012-2013 season
that starts in October.

Sugar and ethanol units account for about 30 percent of
Cosan’s revenue. The company attributed local currency
depreciation as the main reason for its loss. Brazil’s real is
the worst performer among the 16 major currencies tracked by
Bloomberg this year.

Cosan’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and
amortization fell 89 percent to 426.7 million reais in the
fiscal quarter from 3.82 billion reais a year ago.